Packing device.



Patented Feb. 5,

2 SHEETS-SHEET I. PRUYN.

PACKING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 27 1916.

Wl TNESSES 24%. 9%@

F. PHUYN. PACKING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 27| I9I6.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

WIT/VESSES ATTORNEYS FREDERIC PRUYN, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'IO SEAMLESS PRODUCTS COR- PORATION, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PACKING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

Application led October 27, 1916. Serial No. 128,024.

To aZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, FREDERIC PRUYN, a.

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Packing Device, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object'of the invention is to provide a new and improved packing device more especially designed for the transportation and storage of eggs, oranges and other fruits or other articles, and arranged to permit of quickly placing the articles in position when filling the packing device, to reduce to a m1n1mum cracking or breaking of the eggs or bruising of the fruits during transportation or handling, and to prevent such breakage or bruising as may occur in a packing device from spreading contamination froml one article to another in the package.

Inl order to accomplish the desired result, use 1s I nade of a tier of superimposed holding umts each having integral resilient supporting members which yieldingly support one unit on the other.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the packing device arranged as a standard egg crate for holding thirty dozen eggs, the section being on the line 1--1 of Fig. 2;

Fig, 2 is a plan View ofthe same with the cover of the crate removed;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross sect-ion of the same on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and with the cover in position;

Fig. 4 is a similar view of a modified form of the same; and

Fig. 5 is a reduced plan view of a portion of one of the sheets of the modied form shown in Fig. 4.

The standard egg crate 10 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is provided with the usual transverse partition 11 which divides the crate into two compartments. each designed to bold fifteen dozen eggs. The crate, after being filled, is closed by a suitable cover 12. Each crate compartment is approximately square in plane and each is filled with a tier of superimposed holding units for the eggs or other articles to be transported or stored. Each holding unitis formed of two sheets conformingin size to that of the corresponding crate compartment, and the sheets are preferably made of paper, rubber or like iexible material, of about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. The sheets indicated by the numeral 15 are provided with complementary half cells 16 in register with one another to form entire cells each adapted to contain an egg or other article singly, the cells being preferably ovoidal in shape with the major axis disposed in a vertical direction. The half cells 16 on each sheet 15 are spaced uniform distances apart and are disposed in longitudinal and transverse rows, as plainly indicated in Fig. 2.

In order to accommodate fifteen dozen eggs in each crate compartment. sundry of the units are each provided with sixteen cells and the other units are provided with twenty-five cells, and by using five units of sixteen cells each and four units of twentyfive cells each, a total of one hundred and eighty cells are provided thus accommodating fifteen dozen eggs. By the arrangement described the half cells of adjacent sheets of alternating units are in staggered relation to each other.

In order to yieldingly support one unit from the one next below, the following arrangement is made: The portions of a sheet intermediate four adjacent half cells are made concave to form integral resilient or cushioning members 17 engaged at or near their middle by the apexes of the half cells of the adjacent sheet of the next following unit so that thel units are yieldingly supported one upon the other in a vertical direction. By reference to Fig. 3, it will be noticed that the dome-shaped half cells 16 have their sides out of contact with the half cells of an adjacent sheet so that the cells of one unit are only' in contact at the top and bottom with the resilient supporting members 17 of the next adjacent units above and below. As the sheets 15 at their edges t the walls of a crate compartment, it is evident that very little, if any, lateral movement of the sheets takes place, and consequently the eggs or other articles are contained in cells which are practically held on the top and bottom between resilient supporting members and consequently all shock and jar are readily taken up and breakage or bruising of the articles is reduced to a minimum, especially as adjacent cells are not in contact with each other.

In practice, cushioning sheets 15 are placed one in the bottom of each compartment and one on the top for cushioning the lowermost and uppermost units, the same as the intermediate ones. As previously stated, the cells are ovoidal in a vertical direction to readily accommodate an egg of usual shape or size. In case an egg is of a larger diameter than the ordinary one the ovoidal cell would not suffice to safely house such egg and hence each half cell is provided with an outwardly flaring mouth 18 to accommodate a large egg.

The outwardly flaring mouth merges with the edge of the adjacent resilient portion thus increasing the resiliency thereof.

In the modified form shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the cushioning members 19 are the flat portions of the sheet and merge with raised annular margins or beads at the liaring mouths of the half cells 21 of each sheet so that the sheets of a unit are in contact at the raised margins or beads and the fiat portions of the sheet form the cushioning members, but otherwise the construction is the same as above described in reference to the sheet shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

Itis understood that in packing the illed units in the crate in the manner described, the weight of the units and the pressure exerted by the packer in a downward direction tends to compress the yielding or cushioning members 17, and, in some cases, to such an extent that the sides of the corresponding cells may come in contact with each other, but it is expressly understood that each cell is spring-supported on to and bottom.

The sheets 15 are pre erably made from paper pulp in the manner fully set forth in the Letters Patent of the United States for a machine for makin articles from pulp, granted to Frederic ruyn and William J. De Reamer, January 2, 1917 No. 1,211,229, it being, however, understood that the molds disclosed in this machine must be shaped to conform to the shape of the sheets, as shown and described above. I am aware of the invention set forth in the United States patent of Edwin R. Gill for a packing device, No. 1,214,451, dated January 30, 1917, and I do not claim the arrangement set forth therein,

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a packing crate for eggs, fruit and like articles, a tier of .superimposed holding units having spaced cells each for containing an article singly, the holding units having integral yielding supporting members intermediate the cells and the cells of one unit extending between the cells of an adjacent unit and bein seated on the said yielding members of t 1e adjacent unit, each holding unit consisting of two sheets of unbroken continuity.

2. In a packing crate for eggs, fruits and like articles, a tier of superimposed holding sheets formed with cells and disposed in pairs, the sheets' of each pair being oppositely disposed with their cells registering, the portions intermediate the cells of a sheet forming integral resilient members and the cells of one sheet of each pair being extended between the cells on a sheet of the next adjoining pair and being in contact with the said resilient members each sheet with its half cells and its resilient members being of unbroken continuity.

3. In a packing crate for eggs, fruit and like articles, a tier of superimposed holding units, each consisting of a pair of sheets, the sheets of a unit being superimposed and having complementary half cells to form entire cells, each for holding an article singly, the half cells of adjacent sheets of alternating units being in staggered relation to each other, the portions intermediate adjacent half cells of a sheet forming resilient members. the half cells of adjacent sheets of alternating units being in contact with the said resilient members to hold the units in yielding relation one to the other, each sheet with its half cells and its resilient members being of unbroken continuity.

4. In a packing crate for eggs, fruit and like articles, two superimposed units, each unit being formed of two sheets provided with complementary half cells, the half cells being uniformly spaced apart and the sides of the half cells of two adjacent sheets of the two units being spaced apart, the portions oi a sheet intermediate adjacent cells being resilient and forming yielding supportmg members, and the apexes of the half cells of the adjacent sheets of units being in contact with the corresponding yielding supporting members of the sheets, each sheet with its half cells and its resilient supporting members being of unbroken continuity.

5. In a packing crate for eggs, fruit and like articles, two superimposed units, each unit being formed of two sheets provided with complementary half cells, the half cells being uniformly spaced apart and the sides of the half cells of two adjacent sheets of the two units being spaced apart, the portions of a sheet intermediate adjacent cells being concave and forming resilient supporting members and the apexes of the half cells of adjacent sheets of the units bein in contact with the corresponding supportlng members of the sheets, each sheet with its half cells and its resilient supporting members being of unbroken continuity.

6. In a packing crate for eggs, fruit and like articles, a plurality of superimposed holding units, each consisting of a pairvof sheets having complementary half ells forming entire cells adapted to contain the 5 articles singly, each sheet of a holding unit having the portions intermediate the cells resilient and bent in the direction of the depth of the adjacent half cells, the apexes of the cells of adjacent sheets being in contact with the correspondingl resilient portions, each sheet With its half cells and its resilient portions being of unbroken continuity.

FREDERIC PRUYN. 

